April 15, Taxes, And Your Hot Rod

Ah, the tax refund. To us, April 15 isn’t a deadline—it’s an industry-wide calendar event that marks the time when car guys have cash to finish old projects or acquire new ones. A time to buy the speed parts we’ve put off purchasing since the “holiday shopping season” began around Halloween and lasted until right after Valentine’s Day. Regardless of whether Uncle Sam is going to return $100 or $10,000 of your hard-earned income, I’m guessing much of that cash is going toward your automotive and mechanical passions—as it should.

Taxes are a fact of life. They pay for roads we drive on, many of the schools we’ve learned from, and the first-responders who protect our national interests. There’s no getting around them, and I’m OK with taxes as long as that money is being spent to make society smarter, more useful, more prosperous, and happier (I’m paraphrasing Charles Dickens here). Spending your tax-return money on a hot rod is just as valid, as long as the investment accomplishes all of those same goals.

2/2I’ve never been inside the National Corvette Museum. I have, however, been to its parking lot. I shot photos of this 505hp GMC outside the Skydome (where the floor recently caved in, see page 18) back in 2009. The driver of the truck, Dennis Perry, asked a kid sweeping the sidewalk if it was “OK for us to take photos here?” The kid said, “Sure.” But I explained to Dennis, “That guy can’t give us permission to take pictures here.” To which Dennis somewhat condescendingly replied, “You want me to keep asking until I find someone who tells us no?”

Need help explaining this to your family or significant other? Enlighten them about how devoting time and resource to innovation, performance, and beating the competition is exactly what our forefathers would’ve wanted. Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin all embraced the hot rod mentality. Like you, they wanted better, faster, cheaper, and stronger everything—they just did it with a nation instead of transportation. Our Founding Fathers understood the importance of horsepower as well as any of us. I’d argue they’d see hot rodding cars as a patriotic pursuit.

Rest assured that Summit Racing, eBay, Jegs, and Craigslist are all bracing for the de facto tax-return saving accounts millions of us are about to cash in and transfer over to them this month. If you’re listening, McMaster-Carr, expect a big order from me in the next few days to get my five-year-old project out of the garage and into the light of day.

How much of your tax return should you spend on your hot rod? It’s your money and what you do with it is ultimately your business, but here’s my one bit of economic advice: Make sure whatever you spend is less than the amount you’ll spend on your wife and family. Our forefathers would’ve agreed with me on that one as well; they were married and had kids, too, you know.